


blood calls blood

by Zerrat



Series: Mafia AU [3]
Category: Drakengard 3
Genre: Alternate Universe - Organised Crime, F/F, Intonercest, Modern Setting, foe-yay, in which zero and one take turns threatening each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-28
Updated: 2014-11-28
Packaged: 2018-02-27 06:45:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2683142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zerrat/pseuds/Zerrat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zero earns herself an unexpected visit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	blood calls blood

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, _yes_ KC you were 100% correct when you guessed why I was asking about your mafia au headcanons, and that's because I was writing this. 
> 
> Happy birthday, you big idiot. Have an epic day. <3

Zero's face was still throbbing as she slowly climbed the stairs to her apartment. With every grudging step, she muttered darkly beneath her breath about everything from the broken elevator to the lucky hit her rogue fence had gotten off on her. It was then that she'd taken the liberty of painting the alleyway with his brains and blood. 

He was no great loss to her business - he'd always dealt in the more mundane goods that passed through her territory. More a side venture than anything else, and certainly not worth losing sleep over. 

Still. It was the fact that he'd turned on Zero at all that was the galling part, and she knew exactly which turf-hungry bitch was behind it. Making an example of the idiot was easy, and any other business contacts would put the message together when they found the goddamn pieces. 

She really needed to stop wearing white. It was such a fucking pain to get cleaned. 

Zero didn't encounter anyone in the narrow, run-down staircase up to her apartment, which was a relief. She didn't particularly feel like disposing of another body that night, and as she unlocked her door, she wondered if maybe she was actually going to get a bit of sleep tonight instead of -

The moment she stepped into her apartment, something felt _off_. Zero froze for just a moment in the flickering, fluorescent hallway light, her breath caught in her throat, her skin prickling as she stared into the darkness. She reached for the handgun strapped to her thigh slowly, not moving her gaze from the darkness, anger uncoiling in her stomach. 

Whichever of her people let slip her home address, she was going to fucking gut them and hang them with their own goddamn entrails over this. Her lips pressed together in a flat line and her weapon raised, she slipped into her dark apartment, blinking rapidly to adjust her eyes to the light. 

Picking her way through her dark flat would have been a lot easier if she'd left fewer beer bottles and less clothing strewn about the floor, and she almost tripped over stray cardboard boxes several times. Fuck, she did not spend nearly enough time in this goddamn trash heap apartment to know exactly where all the shit was, but she managed to round the corner to her kitchen without ending up with a bullet between her eyes. 

Zero should not have been surprised to find her visitor reclining against her cluttered kitchen countertop, lit up from behind by the faint glow from the city lights streaming in from the filthy window behind her and dressed in a crisp, white suit. 

One. Fucking _One._ Zero's jaw set stubbornly, and she didn't lower her gun, her mind racing. One didn't stoop to dealing with lowly, personal intimidation visits - she'd never enjoyed it the way Zero had, and she was always so _busy._

Apparently, Zero's efforts at messing with Five and making off with the phone had finally done what killing a couple of One's enforcers had not. She finally had One's undivided attention, but the fuck if she was actually ready for the confrontation. 

Of course One would _know_ that. That was why she was here. She'd always been better at the power games, and as Zero watched One leisurely uncross her arms, unhurried and completely at ease no matter that her rogue sister had a gun pulled on her... One had only improved. 

Zero caught the flash of a silk handkerchief and her wrist though - apparently waiting in the smell of the apartment had been _bothering_ her. Well, good. Zero had half a mind to kick open one of the month-old pizza boxes at her feet - which may or may not have had leftovers still in it - just to really let One and her delicate senses have it. 

She was done fucking around, and she wasn't about to let One dictate the terms of their meeting. Unexpected or not, maybe she could make things work out in her favour after all.

"One. I see you've gone and made yourself at home," Zero told One, her tone falsely honeyed and advancing a step. Through the grainy window beyond, however, Zero could just make out movement on the rooftop of one of the neighbouring highrises. 

_Fuck._ One hadn't come alone, of course she wouldn't have, what the hell had Zero been expecting? For One to just show up in her apartment without all her little thugs guarding her back? Zero didn't lower her gun, keeping it trained on her sister and wondering if she wanted to risk it after all. 

"Zero. I see your personal hygiene hasn't improved." One tilted her head to the side just slightly, expressionless. Zero's lip curled - oh, she absolutely _wanted_ to risk the shot, but instead, she laughed, the sound harsh and derisive. 

"Cut the crap. Why the fuck are you even here?" Zero demanded, holstering her weapon. It wasn't worth it. Not tonight. "Your little messenger girl already on another pointless errand to keep her busy?"

One's brow creased into a frown. "Four? She's waiting in the car. She has her orders."

As if that ever made a difference with _Four._ But then, One had always been the exception for Four, and Zero no longer gave enough fucks to bother trying to work the little shitlord out. That didn't mean she was above baiting One over it, however. 

"Oh, I forget. You never let her face the consequences of her actions." Zero shook her head, but she didn't lower her eyes from One's. "Fuck. When are you ever going to make her grow the hell up?"

"This isn't about Four," One said, her voice flat and brooking no nonsense. So. That hit a nerve, then. 

Emboldened, Zero took a step forward, resting both hands on her kitchen countertop, leaning her weight on them and baring her teeth in the parody of a smile. Just for a moment, One's eyes flickered down from her own, over the drying blood soaked into her white dress - deliberate misdirection, perhaps. Whatever had changed between them since their falling out, Zero still understood One well enough to know she would not be tempted whilst on business.

"Then what's it about, little sister? Come to take out the remaining competition at the docks?" Zero's tone was one of mockery, before it darkened, her anger at the events of recent months bubbling forth. "You'll need get your damn sniper to put a bullet right between my eyes if you think you'll walk away from this."

"This is a talk only, Zero," One replied, low and clear, her gaze suddenly openly assessing. 

Zero shifted under the weight of her consideration, angry that she'd feel uneasy at all. One always been a powerhouse of forceful reserve, calmness and control to Zero's fury and impulsivity, but it had been far too long since she'd forced to deal with One face to face. 

Normally, Zero was forced to go to her other sisters - Two, if she wanted to deal with the family's public face, or Five, if she wanted even a chance at getting some answers to slip out. 

Frustrated, Zero wet her lips with the tip of her tongue, drumming her fingers on the benchtop, suddenly restless. "Then _talk_. I don't have all fucking night to listen to you yap."

One's eyes narrowed then, and carefully, she drew something from her jacket's breast pocket. Zero's gaze flickered down, seemingly stuck on the twist of One's wrist, on the white sleeve and the black leather gloves, until her sister held up what appeared to be some sort of flash drive. 

It still took Zero two swallows and an endless stream of internal cursing to get her mouth working again. "What's that?"

"Information."

" _Funny,_ " Zero bit out, leaning forward until she towered over her shorter sister, until she could smell One's perfume, heady and familiar. "It's bait, so I'll go out and do your dirty work."

Shit never changed, did it? She'd been all but fucking exiled from the family and still, One thought she could snap her fingers and she'd come running. Who the fuck did she think Zero was?

One didn't seem bothered by the invasion of personal space, merely tilting her chin to meet Zero's eyes. "A peace offering was more my intention."

"Call it what you will," Zero snapped, her grasp tightening on her benchtop until her bones ached with it. "Give me a fucking break. Our family doesn't do _peace_ to get our way. We do _in pieces_."

The corner of One's mouth tugged up then, a tiny, reluctant concession to Zero's words. Then again, she'd always found Zero's threats of bodily harm amusing. 

"Perhaps you're correct," One allowed, and before she could continue, Zero cut in. 

"'Perhaps' my goddamn ass. You're getting soft." Zero threw her words down like a challenge, and spitefully, she added, "Gabriella got something to do with this little visit?"

"She rather believes I should have you killed, that it's the only way this war of ours will end." One moved then, resting her palms against her side of the bench and imitating Zero's pose, leaning forward until she was so close Zero could feel her breath, her lips just inches away. "Tell me, Zero. What do you believe I should do?"

Zero didn't draw back, didn't dare make that retreat, not to _One._ Her heart was pounding in her chest and ears, her eyes seemingly locked on the soft curve of One's lips, the line of her jaw, the steady set of her shoulders. Zero remembered exactly how those lips had tasted, the memory colouring her every thought until she was certain she'd have to kill One to be free of it.

One would not fuck around, however, if Zero decided that everything ended here. She'd have Zero put down without so much as a blink. But there was hope in One's eyes, beyond all that steel. Always goddamn _hope_. Not for the first time, Zero had to observe that One was a fucking idealist in the wrong fucking job. 

_Make things right with One,_ Five had said to her last time. Or warned her. Whatever.

Zero wet her lips, determined to regain control of the conversation. 

"What should you _do_?" she snarled, and there wasn't a trace of her earlier agitation in her voice. "Get the fuck out of my apartment before I send you out in a goddamn bodybag. That'll be something even Three can't fix."

What Zero _really_ wanted was her business back to the way it was meant to be and for her damn sister to get the fuck out of her head. 

One laughed, then. It was a wearier, softer sound than Zero remembered. 

"You don't want this information?" One asked, holding up the flashdrive once more, but her gaze never wavered from Zero's for a moment. Testing. Assessing. A reluctant shiver ran down Zero's spine, and they both watched one another for a long, breathless moment. 

Fuck. Zero's mouth felt dry as all hell. 

Finally, as the seconds stretched on into what seemed like eternity, One let a tiny sigh pass her lips. Zero relaxed, the hold One had somehow seized her with broken. How the fuck had that even happened? Zero was angry with her. Zero couldn't _stand_ her. 

Her teeth bared in a snarl. "Not from _you._ "

One's expression darkened then, just for an instant but there, and she slipped the flashdrive back into her breast pocket. 

"So spiteful that you'd even deny yourself vital information, based on the source alone." One's lips thinned, and she leaned back, crossing her arms. "I'm disappointed. I'd hoped you'd grown up."

"Who the fuck did you think you were talking to?" Zero demanded, her voice harsh. _Furious._ Who the hell did One think she was, breaking into her goddamn apartment? That she'd roll over at her every whim, just like the rest of them? "I don't need you. I don't need any of you."

One turned away from her, shaking her head. Her words were soft and almost reluctant as she said, "Blood calls blood. We're family, Zero. Whether you care for it or not."

With that, she was moving, apparently done with the fruitless confrontation. It didn't fucking _feel_ like Zero's victory, however. She didn't move, her breath sharp in her throat, her eye fixed on One. She passed right by Zero's shoulder, the scent of her perfume and skin clouding Zero's every sense - 

Zero's hand lashed out, wrapping tight about One's wrist with a bruising grasp, and _surely_ One was hurting! One merely looked over her shoulder, her eyes steady, completely unmoved by whatever fury twisted Zero's stomach. 

"Don't let me catch you in my goddamn apartment again, One," Zero told her, low and heated, and she tightened her grip threateningly. "Or on my turf."

One drew her wrist sharply from Zero's hand, bringing it close to her chest and working her fingers almost disinterestedly. Her smile was cold. "You lost your say in the family business when you left."

"Get the hell out." Zero's heart was pounding hard in her ears again, and her fingertips itched for her gun, for One's blood mixing with her fence's on her clothing. Fuck, but the sniper... the easy solution she always took, that of bloody fucking murder, was _impossible_. 

While she was paralysed with ineffectual rage, One continued on through her apartment, her keener vision allowing her to pick her way through the crap on the floor without issue. It was only when she reached the door that she paused. 

"Singularity," One said softly, and damn her, but Zero's entire body was intent on every syllable. "Don't forget the name, Zero."

Zero's eyes narrowed, but she made no move to respond. If One expected any acknowledgement, she didn't stick around, instead slipping from Zero's apartment without a further word. Zero's hands trembled in anger as she listened to the door click shut, and it was then that she whirled with a curse and sent her whole goddamn fist through the plaster of the nearest wall. 

One had some fucking goddamn _nerve_ to come here, to drop hints and infuriate Zero, to drive so completely under Zero's skin just by being herself. 

Zero was going to kill something. She was going to do it slowly and enjoy every bit of pain she inflicted, imagining that it was One bleeding out beneath her fingertips, that it was One who she was finally rid of. She looked down at her hand, coated in dusty plaster and blood, but she could still feel One's warm wrist beneath her fingertips. 

_Fuck._ The meeting had been a fucking disaster from start to finish. "Singularity", though. What the hell was that about?


End file.
